


wait for me now

by ScottieIsImpatient



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Angst, Fluff and Angst, Future Fic, M/M, Tuckerreed, the boys are married now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:28:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25659730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScottieIsImpatient/pseuds/ScottieIsImpatient
Summary: Malcolm is losing himself in the past. Trip comes to the rescue.
Relationships: Malcolm Reed/Charles "Trip" Tucker III
Comments: 3
Kudos: 37





	wait for me now

**Author's Note:**

> Came up with this lovely lil fic while I was sitting on the beach staring at the sky for half an hour. It's a bit vague in terms of plot but I enjoyed writing it. I hope you enjoy reading it too :3
> 
> Title: "Wait For Me", Rise Against

He sits just above the shoreline, his eyes on the horizon where the sunset has turned the sky into a beautiful canvas of colours; the gentle wind rushing through his hair playfully. From somewhere far above a seagull cries, though he does not twitch, does not even blink. A sense of tranquility has taken over his body. It’s the first time he can remember such a feat.

Contented, Malcolm sighs, allowing the movement to relax his tense shoulders and the tightness in his lungs. He sits and he listens to the waves crashing gently against the shoreline; a sound that once filled him with an indescribable terror - a sound he once associated with a cry of a child and deep water rushing up to meet him. A sound he swore he would never hear again when he first signed up for Starfleet.

Malcolm closes his eyes as the memories come rushing back. He begins to lose himself – falling farther and farther into the past, the images getting more and more suffocating.

He’s underwater. He can’t break the surface.

He’s in space. He can’t escape.

He can’t breathe.

The sudden presence of a stone in his hand forces him to open his eyes. Unconsciously he must have picked it up, and now rubs it between his forefinger and thumb. The combination of rough sand and smooth surface anchors him to the present. Malcolm takes a deep, relieved breath.

“Hey,” says the smooth, drawling voice he’s come to associate with summer and warmth.

Malcolm smiles as his husband takes a seat beside him, the sweat glistening off his sun-kissed skin. His blond hair is all mussed in just the way Malcolm loves it.

“Ready to go?” Trip’s vibrant blue eyes contrast against the pale pink and orange of the dusk sky.

Wordlessly, Malcolm nods. He is too elated to speak right now. The moment is just so perfect – Trip’s warm body beside him, the coarse sand beneath his feet, the gentle lapping waves of the ocean – that he fears he is dreaming again.

But when Trip lays a hand on his shoulder, he realizes with relief that he is not dreaming.

Malcolm stumbles clumsily as Trip helps him to his feet. “You okay?” the blond asks, concern dancing in his eyes.

“Yeah.” Malcolm flashes him a reassuring smile and loosens the death grip he has on Trip’s arm. “Just this bloody thing. I’m not quite used to it.”

Trip flashes a glance down at the metal prosthetic which replaced Malcolm’s right leg those many months ago. “You’ll get there,” Trip assures him. He holds out his elbow for Malcolm to take but he declines with a shake of his head.

“I want to try on my own.”

It takes a while for him to get his groove, as is usual. More than once he stumbles, falling into Trip’s arms like the cliché damsel in distress. They giggle as they untangle themselves from each other and Malcolm keeps going, determined as ever.

Trip’s always admired the determination. Even on board _Enterprise_ Malcolm never shied away from a challenge; never let his weaknesses get the best of him. Not even on the planet, where…

Trip swallows and shoves the memory out of his mind. He is much too happy to let something so “trivial”, as Malcolm puts it, stand in the way. He forces himself to step back as Malcolm walks on his own, the prosthetic clacking with every movement.

They make it back to the house with minimum incidents. “And only a bit of sand,” Malcolm comments, pointing at his leg. Trip chuckles and wraps an arm around his husband, planting a kiss on the top of his head. Then they stumble up the stairs to the front door, radiating with joy and laughter

Trip makes some coffee to keep them awake for the night ahead and they sit on the couch, shoulder to shoulder, each absorbing the other’s warmth. “How did the session go?” Trip asks him through the silence.

Malcolm exhales slowly before he tells Trip the truth. Becoming more open has never been one of his strong suits, but he’s been working on it these past for years. It hasn’t been an easy road – for either of them, in fact – but with Trip by his side, Malcolm feels much braver than he’s ever felt.

He can breathe.


End file.
